Colin Norris: The Killer Nurse — Revisited

In 2008, nurse Colin Norris was convicted of murdering four elderly patients and attempting to murder another at two hospitals in Leeds. Prosecutors said Norris deliberately injected vulnerable women with insulin, causing sudden and unexplained episodes of severe hypoglycaemia. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 30 years.

Norris has always maintained his innocence.

This week, Seeing Red revisits one of Britain's most disturbing — and increasingly controversial — medical murder cases.

Before the original episode begins, Mark returns with a new 10–15 minute update.

With the Lucy Letby case continuing to raise difficult questions about medical evidence, statistics and the investigation of unexpected hospital deaths, Mark looks again at the case against Norris — including the evidence that once appeared to make his guilt overwhelming, and the developments that have since led some experts to question whether the women he was convicted of harming were murdered at all.

He also revisits Norris's deeply troubling behaviour away from the alleged murders: the personality traits identified following his arrest, his extraordinary treatment of his own cat, and the chilling comments he made while under suspicion. And if some of the medical evidence against Norris is now open to challenge, how much weight should we give to behaviour that seems almost impossible to explain away?

Plus, Mark considers what the cases of Norris, Ben Geen and Lucy Letby can tell us about one of the most difficult questions in modern criminal justice: how do you prove that a healthcare professional is deliberately killing patients when the alleged murders can look remarkably like natural medical emergencies?

The original Seeing Red episode then follows, newly remastered and lightly edited.

Colin Norris was convicted as one of Britain's most notorious killer nurses. Nearly two decades later, is his guilt still beyond reasonable doubt? Join our Patreon

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